Johnny Smith taught himself to play pawnshop guitars. They let him play them if he kept every one in the shop in tune for the day. He got so good, so young, he taught others to play for a few pennies. One day a student with means bought himself a brand new guitar and gave Johnny his old one. That was the first guitar he OWNED. That meant he was able to go play gigs. He played HILLBILLY MUSIC in MAINE during the depression. He actually had a little money... and then heard some Jazz he liked. At 18 years old, he taught himself that. That was interrupted by a war where he was forced to play a horn for the military. - After WWII ... It didnt take long. He was a really melodic player. He made a lot of beautiful recordings. In his mid 30s his second wife died, leaving him with a young daughter. He retired from show-biz and started a music store so he could stick around and be a great dad. He invented new guitars all the while and the big companies all scrambled to make them for him. I love him. Oh....this is what he played: https://youtube/watch?v=RHWALowsICI Oh... nothing. Just Claude Debussy on a solo guitar. Thats all. Jeez. - Also... he was ok financially ... you see he wrote a hit song, Walk Dont Run Yeah. Rest In Peace Johnny.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 07:58:37 +0000
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